Midweek rant: Save Our Pattaya – time for less back slapping and more action

14th June 2017 Posted by Vadim Thaivisa No comments

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The sight and sound of Pattaya’s top cop Apichai Krobpetch slapping
the backs of his men and praising them to the skies last week was
worse than laughable.

Apparently his upstanding men were doing a great job and fully merited
the millions of baht of new motorcycle presents they had just been
given by HQ.

Everything was just hunky dory down by the sea!

Even by the double standards of Pattaya this was patently absurd.

The force in Chonburi – read Pattaya – is rumored to be one of the
hardest to get into. Not because of the difficulty of the exams or the
quality of officers it attracts – because of how much that has to
change hands just to get a job there.

Such are the rich pickings.

Many of the officers in the province make the rest of the country look
like angels in comparison!

How many times have we read about cops at the resort trying to fleece
and extort money from the public? There was Nang Fa karaoke, women
picked off the streets on trumped up charges, people harassed even
raped….the list goes on.

When the force investigates its own it descends into farce.

How many times have we seen their total inactivity when they were needed most?

And how many times have we seen their shambolic efforts to clean up
the mean streets?

Surely it is time to look at the performance of the force under the
current leadership and at least have a few serious words. Make some
threats – they might understand that language after all.

Pattaya is now meant to be priding itself as a hub of all that is good
in tourism.

But as officialdom tried to play down reports of the dangers in
Thailand as a whole the microcosm that is Pattaya could hardly escape
the spotlight.

Yes, foreign residents always bang on about it being like that since
the year dot. Well, that isn’t good enough if the resort is going to
drag itself up to a semblance of respectability…if that is ever or
even possible.

Two cases in the last couple of days seem to show motiveless attacks
against foreigners. One was an Australian and one was an Indian out
for a walk with his Thai girlfriend.

Sure, people who have had a drink sometimes conveniently forget they
might have upset someone but these two cases are nonetheless worrying
and should be thoroughly investigated.

The last thing Pattaya needs is roaming gangs of bandits in pick-ups
out for a bit of Clockwork Orange style bashing.

Then there is the continual cases of snatch theft happening almost daily.

The victims seem to be blamed for wearing jewelry or conducting
insurance scams more than the police for not being on the beat or
trying to prevent and heaven forbid….actually solve crime.

When the cases are reported the force go through the motions – they
phone ahead to stop the miscreants, villains who always flee into the
night on their bikes and escape; they check CCTV that is either not
working or unhelpful; they promise a follow up.

Yawn! Absolutely nothing happens and the next day there is another
incident. And so the cycle of inactivity continues.

It is a far cry from the chief’s utopian claims.

Whatever happened to the “Happy Zones” where the eyes and ears of CCTV
and an empowered public were supposed to be working with the police in
eradicating crime?

That is a rhetorical question because all we see is absolute total
farce and pathetic lip service.

The military obviously have their work cut out when it comes to
reigning in the Chonburi force. Changes have been made to the top
brass but it still seems to result in more tarnish.

Apichai further claimed that his men represented value for money for
public taxes.

But for many people who love the resort, who call it their home and
would like to see it cleaner, safer, friendlier and above all less
corrupt, his words fell on decidedly flat ears.

And the tragedy is that no one was particularly surprised at what he said.